The Joe Ringer Band, Claire Martin OBE, Frankie's Guysger Band

Popular Norfolk vocalist Joe Ringer takes to the Norwich Theatre Royal stage on August 9 with his big band sound as he presents Swingin’ With Bublé. The Norwich-based singer has a large local following for his jazz and swing arrangements and is promising an evening to remember with a 28-piece orchestra, guest soloists and a 40-piece choir.

Joining him on stage will be international jazz singer and recording artist Claire Martin, seven times winner of the British Jazz Awards, who will be paying her tribute to the all-time great female jazz legends such as Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

“We are also featuring Frankie’s Guys who are the best Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute band going, and they will be playing along with the band and you’ll see all the moves and costumes, so there will be a huge and gorgeous sound coming off the stage and it will be a visual treat for everyone too,” Joe said.

He said presenting such a large band was unusual. “We will have a 28-piece orchestra and everything is especially arranged for this line-up. So we will have the standard big band which is 18 musicians, and on top of that we have added a seven-piece string section plus percussion. That’s a massive amount of orchestra making a beautiful sound.”

Joe has been working on the arrangements himself, alongside arranger Mike West. “The songs are beautifully written and to be able to do the true arrangements is brilliant. The lyrics are beautiful, which I feel a lot of the time today you don’t get in modern songs. They are so clever you can get really lost in the story when you are singing them and listening to them too. I like singing pop music like anyone else, but there is something about these well-crafted songs from Cole Porter and Irving Berlin that I really love. They are a pleasure to sing and they suit my voice.”

On the programme on August 9 will be numbers from Michael Bublé with songs ranging from Cry Me A River and Haven’t Met You Yet, to Home and Feeling Good, as well as some of the all-time greats from Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack and Ray Charles. “I will be paying tribute to all those guys,” Joe said, “and we have some arrangements being specially written for the choir like Georgia on My Mind, so these will be bespoke arrangements and the first time you will ever hear them.”